It is known that acoustic fields can be applied to fluids (e.g., liquids, gases) within resonator vessels or chambers. For example, standing waves of an acoustic field can be generated and set up within a resonator containing a fluid medium. The acoustic fields can be described by three-dimensional scalar fields conforming to the driving conditions causing the fields, the geometry of the resonator, the physical nature of the fluid supporting the acoustic pressure oscillations of the field, and other factors.
One common way to achieve an acoustic field within a resonator is to attach acoustic drivers to an external surface of the resonator. The acoustic drivers are typically electrically-driven using acoustic drivers that convert some of the electrical energy provided to the drivers into acoustic energy. The energy conversion employs the transduction properties of the transducer devices in the acoustic drivers. For example, piezo-electric transducers (PZT) having material properties causing a mechanical change in the PZT corresponding to an applied voltage are often used as a building block of electrically-driven acoustic driver devices. Sensors such as hydrophones can be used to measure the acoustic pressure within a liquid, and theoretical and numerical (computer) models can be used to measure or predict the shape and nature of the acoustic field within a resonator chamber.
If the driving energy used to create the acoustic field within the resonator is of sufficient amplitude, and if other fluid and physical conditions permit, cavitation may take place at one or more locations within a liquid contained in an acoustic resonator. During cavitation, vapor bubbles, cavities, or other voids are created at certain locations at times within the liquid where the conditions (e.g., pressure) at said certain locations and times allow for cavitation to take place.
Some existing systems allow for cavitation to occur inside a body of an acoustic resonator so as to achieve a desired result (e.g., a transformation or a reaction) in the fluid being cavitated. This however requires filling the volume of the resonator with the material on which cavitation is desired. In practice, cavitation often only occurs near a small volume in the interior of the resonator chamber, e.g., near its center. Therefore, a large amount of reactive material is traditionally pumped into a relatively large cavitation resonator and only a small fraction of that material is exposed to acoustic fields capable of causing cavitation to the fluid. Therefore, a long time is required to cause a noticeable reaction or transformation in the fluid in the resonator as a whole. The present disclosure makes improvements to the effectiveness and efficiency of such cavitation reaction processes and systems.